Chocolate is a food product which is well known throughout the world. Chocolate is typically produced from the seeds of cacao trees. Various types of chocolate can be formed depending upon how it is mixed. The primary ingredient in chocolates, but for white chocolate, is chocolate liquor which is also referred to as unsweetened, bitter, baking, or cooking chocolate. When mixed with certain percentages of milk solids, sugar, vanilla or vanillin, lecithin, and additional cocoa butter, the combinations form extra-bittersweet, bittersweet, semisweet, sweet cooking, dark and milk chocolates. Milk chocolate contains less chocolate liquor than dark chocolate and has some butterfat and a greater percentage of milk solids. White chocolate contains no chocolate liquor but otherwise resembles the composition of milk chocolate.
The melting temperatures of the various types of chocolates can vary depending upon their composition. If chocolate is overheated it can burn easily. For example, dark chocolate should not be heated to temperatures greater than one hundred twenty degrees Fahrenheit (120 F) while milk and white chocolates should not be heated to temperatures greater than one hundred ten degrees Fahrenheit (110 F). The cooking chocolates can generally handle greater temperatures without burning.
Chocolates are solid at room temperatures. However when chocolate is heated, it can be melted into a molten or liquid state so that it flows as a fluid. If liquid chocolate is cooled back to room temperatures, it can return to a solid state.
Chocolates can be formed into various shapes and sizes when cooled into a solid state. Bars of chocolate, (i.e., chocolate bars), are very well known to be consumed by children and adults alike. Chips of chocolate, (i.e., chocolate chips), come in various sizes and shapes and can be formed out of the various types of chocolates. Oftentimes chocolate chips are formed of semi-sweet chocolate to be used in baking chocolate chip cookies. Cocoa is a pulverized type of chocolate, a powder, which is typically formed out of defatted chocolate liquor without any sugar being added. Supermarkets often carry two types of cocoa, alkalized and nonalkalized. Alkalized cocoa has been processed with alkali to neutralize acidity and raise its pH level. Cocoa powder is not to be confused with instant hot chocolate which contains a large percentage of sugar.
In whatever form, it is oftentimes desirable to dispense chocolate.